Citizens welcome their beloved Ganpati Bappa with enthusiasm

Rains add to joy of the celebrations, processions held throughout the city

Aurangabad, Aug 31: Ganesh festival began with fervour and gaiety with people welcoming their beloved Bappa with enthusiasm. While residents installed the idols of Ganpati Bappa at homes, mandals carried out grand procession of the deity throughout the city, drawing in a huge crowd. The thunderous rains added to the joy of the celebrations.

Citizens dressed in traditional clothes brought Bappa home in the morning and installed the idols amid hymns and prayers. Most streets in the city were dotted with lines of Ganesh idols in creative makhars (decorative material). Housing societies too installed Bappa with much fanfare. Chants of Ganpati Bappa Morya, Mangal Murti Morya reverberated across the city. The aarti of village deity Sansthan Ganpati was performed by the public representatives at 11 am marking the start of Ganeshotsav in the city.

The Zilla Parishad ground, Gajanan Maharaj Mandir road, Trimurtinagar, Begumpura, Cantonment, Shivajinagar, Avishkar Colony road, TV Center area, Sutgirni Chowk, Padampura and Railway Station road were flooded with Ganesh devotees. Everyone was busy buying idols, Makhars, decoration and materials for worship. Nearly 60 percent of the idols had been sold till 3 pm. The narrow road at Gulmandi, Machli Khadak, Supari Hanuman was so crowded that even walking became difficult.

Even the heavy downpour in the afternoon could not deter the enthusiasm among the Ganesh devotees. It was raining heavily for one and a half to two hours. Regardless of this rain, Ganesh mandals continued the processions. All the Sarvajanik Ganpati Mandals in and around the city completed their processions and installed the deity at their respective pandals till 11 pm. On the other hand, the handcart owners and idol sellers were in a frenzy due to the sudden rains.